


All we can do (is survive)

by LaBeouf15



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Kaede and Shuichi are soulmates, M/M, PG Shuichi, Pregame Shuichi Saihara, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, actually no, but hes a fucking idiot, im not, im sorry, pregame characters, soul marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:06:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21994207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaBeouf15/pseuds/LaBeouf15
Summary: From the moment Shuichi Saihara woke up in the killing game, he never showed anyone his mark.Because he didn't have one.The space where he assumed it was supposed to be was occupied by a long, ugly burn, and for the life of him he couldn't remember why he'd ever get rid of it. No matter who it was, he should've been happy he even had a soulmate, right?That is, until he learns who he was before the Game. What he did.And nothing seemed right anymore.This is VEEEERY angsty. I'm not sorry. There might be fluff later on with other characters, but poor Shuichi is gonna be the depressed bitch we all know and love.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Saihara Shuichi, Chabashira Tenko/Yumeno Himiko, Gokuhara Gonta/Tojo Kirumi, Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito, Iruma Miu/Shinguji Korekiyo, Kirigiri Kyoko/Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Yonaga Angie/Yumeno Himiko, k1-b0/loneliness im sorry he doesnt get a soulmate
Comments: 2
Kudos: 44
Collections: Soulmate Aus || LeosLastWords





	All we can do (is survive)

_This was wrong._

_So, so wrong._

_… It wasn’t supposed to…_

_No. It wasn’t._

_… It had to be fixed, right?_

_That’s what … do._

_… Right._

_It had to be fixed._

_By any means possible._

* * *

Nothing.

No light.

No sound.

No form.

No voice.

No knowledge of who I am.

...who I am?

Who am I?

I extend a hand.

A hand that belongs to no one.

To take hold of my existence-

Skin meets metal. Cold metal. And as soon as it was there, it was gone, swinging open and away from the girl called Nothing.

This is me.

My name is Kaede Akamatsu.

I just remembered who I am.

And suddenly, the girl called Nothing had a name.

As the obstruction gave way, so did Kaede’s legs, crumpling under her like jelly. Before she knew what had happened, her face had met solid ground. She could already feel a colorful bruise blooming across her forehead.

“Ahh?!”

She pushed herself to her knees, bracing her hands against the tile to prevent herself from falling again.

As she oriented herself, her eyes were drawn to a thin black line poking out from underneath the wrist collar of her button-up. She sat back on her heels to roll the sleeves up- and up, and up, all the way to her elbow- jeez, how big _was_ this thing?!

The line extended all the way up to her inner arm, developing into an elaborate geometric design laced with gold and violet.

Her… soul mark, she thought.

It was pretty.

Odd, how such a thing could make her heart flutter in a way that felt familiar when a moment ago she didn’t even know who she was.

“Huh? Wait, where am I? What is this place?”

But back to the matter at hand: figuring out where she was.

A quick scan of her surroundings revealed it to be a classroom… under loose definition. The green LCD “blackboard” was definitely not standard, and there was threatening barbed wire over the windows.

A school. If they were in medieval times and schools were created for torture.

“Oh! Is this a dream!? I just have to pinch myself, right?”

Kaede’s plan, for all its cleverness, didn’t work. The only thing it proved was how sensitive her skin was, a small red mark left on her cheek.

But, if she could remember how she got here, she could figure out how to leave.

If she could remember how she got here.

If she could… remember…

Why couldn’t she remember?

Her name was suddenly gone. Her location. Her age, her hobbies, everything was gone gone gone go-

The girl called nothing was interrupted in her downward spiral when a loud bang resounded from the locker in the corner of the room.

“Wh- ahh!”

Kaede Akamatsu was back.

There was someone in there, she reasoned. They sounded angry. The locker was swaying, ready to burst open- what if it was a serial killer? What if they’d come for her?

Just as she was ready to run from the classroom, from the thing inside that locker, it swung open-

-and a boy came stumbling out. A normal boy, dressed in a high school uniform. In fact, he might be a high school student, too. He yelped when he saw Kaede, clearly not expecting her to be there (even though she’d been talking loudly to herself this whole time).

The girl in question snapped out of her confusion at the other’s fear.

“How rude! Don’t freak out at me like I’m some sort of monster!”

He was apologetic almost instantly, guilt shooting through Kaede. He was disoriented, clearly, just as much as she was.

An odd sense of deja vu struck her.

* * *

Shuichi Saihara was typically a very reasonable person. He was able to think with his head, store and utilize information- basically, everything necessary to be a successful detective.

All of that seemed to have fled him the very moment he woke up in this place. 

First of all, he'd been shoved in a locker like a bully had gotten bored of him and put him there for later. Then, when he finally did make his way out, there was a figure just... standing there, like a messenger from God himself on redemption day.

The figure spoke, and he quickly realized that, no, he wasn't about to die. However, with this girl's pushy confidence, he might be in danger of finding himself shoved back in the locker. The girl introduced herself as the Ultimate Pianist.

With a name and a talent, that confidence became less terrifying and more... admirable.

Threat eliminated, Shuichi allowed himself to look his new companion over, gather information that might tell him where he was. She definitely wasn't painful to the eye, with long hair that fell in blonde streaks down her back and shoulders, and violet eyes that radiated something strong and trustworthy.

It was her attire that gave him pause.

Not the clothing itself- her long-sleeved shirt and skirt were plenty modest, bright color matching her personality- but the odd way her right sleeve was rolled up to her elbow.

There was a mark. Her soul mark. An odd pattern with what he believed to be the five stripes indicating a musical score twisting around itself in waves of gold and purple. 

Subconsciously, he reached down to touch his own forearm through his jacket. His memories were too muddled to remember where or if he had a Mark, but he felt raised skin below the fabric.

Odd. He'd have to investigate later.

* * *

The first thing Kaede learned of Kaito Momota was that he was loud.

Very loud.

The moment she and Shuichi found their way into the gym, that's all she could hear- his booming, sure voice, raving about his Mark. It was a... cloud, maybe? A splatter? Some kind of red... blob, dotted with little white specs. He'd taken his jacket off halfway to show everyone, hiking the sleeve of his shirt up so that the blob-mark was on full display. Whatever it was, he was proud of it.

Kaede supposed that was a good thing. At least, it was better than guarding your Mark like Shuichi had been doing, immediately changing the subject when she asked about it. 

It worried her, vaguely, but she'd learned not to pry where people didn't want you.

It never lead to anything good.

Kaito's attention was drawn to the newcomers, cutting off Kaede's train of thought with a booming, cheerful greeting. She smiled back; happy, at least, to have distraction from Shuichi's mystery before she let her curiosity spiral.

* * *

Sixteen students. There were sixteen Ultimates gathered in the gymnasium. Fifteen people she'd have to guard herself from. Fourteen she wouldn't mind eliminating if necessary.

One she would need to make absolute certain survived this Game alongside her. The same one who proudly boasted the ugly, bloody Mark both bore on their shoulders.

Maki Harukawa was making it out of this Game, by any means possible.


End file.
